The OSI, which was founded in 1998, is a non-profit organization that “advocates for open source software and builds bridges between open source communities.” According to the announcement, OSI’s board members thought it was time to expand the base of the OSI and give open source developers, users, and vendors a direct role in its mission of education, advocacy, and unity.

The press release states that the new Individual Membership category allows individuals who support the mission and work of the OSI to join discussions about that work, to be represented in the evolving governance of the OSI, and to spin up task-focused Working Groups to tackle open source community needs. Individual members also are asked to make a tax-deductible donation to support the mission of OSI.

“The transformation of the OSI into a member-based organization is a timely and important step for the worldwide open source community,” said Simon Phipps, OSI President. “I encourage everyone to visit opensource.org/join and take a stand for open source.”